How I can improve Local SEO in 2018
-
Hi. I have already applied this strategy:
- Capture Your Space on All Local Business Directories.
- Leverage the Power of Local Link Building
- Focus on Reviews and Ratings
- Use Local Structured Data Markup
What could I do to improve my strategy in 2018?
-
Last day, MOZ Team publish a post about it.
https://moz.com/blog/how-to-optimize-your-google-my-business-listing
-
And Google also encourages you to respond to all good and bad reviews too
-
Good question! So, replying to reviews doesn't directly correlate with increased rankings, if this is how you define SEO. But, reviews have a massive impact on your reputation and your revenue. And both of those elements then indirectly impact your SEO, in terms of what people are saying about you (and linking to) regarding your brand, and the financial picture you achieve, which enables you to invest more in your SEO. So, think of it as a circle, if you can.
Given the importance of closely managing your reputation, owner responses have become a critical vehicle for contributing to how consumers feel about your company. Negative reviews, in particular, need responses to defend your reputation and revenue, and also, to keep existing customers happy instead of having to spend so much more in replacing them with new customers.
So, owner responses do not = any known, direct ranking benefits.
But, owner responses definitely do = core benefits to the health of your brand.
You might like to read: https://moz.com/blog/mastering-owner-response-quintet-google-my-business-reviews
-
Thanks for the reply. I have a question about whether it is important or not to answer the reviews on my business page. How important is this for SEO?
-
Good morning!
Great question and good discussion happening here. I have two recommendations for you:
-
Harness all possible features of the Google Knowledge Panel, including description, posts, photos, reviews and review responses, Q&A, etc. Set up UTM tracking wherever you can to assess which particular activities and features are driving traffic and conversions. Google is slowly but surely on a path the replace your website as the interactive level your customers experience for more and more searches. While your website still definitely matters, viewing the Knowledge Panel as a secondary, quite powerful mini-website is appropriate in 2018. Experiment and analyze.
-
Focus on in-store experiences that drive consumer content (reviews) and loyalty. Take advantage of the fact that, for many businesses, Google is still driving new customers their way, basically for free, except in those verticals where free packs are being replaced with paid packs. If Google gives you a customer once, it's up to your in-store staff to turn them into a repeat customer. Emphasize building a loyal consumer base now, while Google leads remain "free", as a preventative measure against the future in which less and less of these leads will be free. What can your business do to create the kind of consumer experiences that win customers for the long term, and prompt word-of-mouth recommendations to their network of family and friends?
Hope these two ideas help!
-
-
Hola elenaglop. Thanks for the link!
-
Hola elenaglop. Thanks for the ideas!
-
It sounds like you're on the right track to me.
With regards to business listings, I have found regularly adding posts to GMB listings quite helpful. While it's not a 'ranking factor', there have been a few case studies done which suggest they can be helpful. E.g. https://searchengineland.com/google-posts-impact-ranking-case-study-285668
Since they take about 5-10 minutes to do, it definitely doesn't hurt!
And then yes if you can create more localised blog content that could help too
-
¡Hola!
Something that always works is writing an article for your blog listing the best specialists in your area or city. In your case it would be something like: "Los mejores logopedas Madrid", of course you can include yourself on the list. Usually this kind of article gets to the first page of Google quite fast because it is quality content. With this little trick you will appear in the first positions when somebody searches "logopedas Madrid".
I hope this helps!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Not Showing Up On Local?
Hello, I purchased Moz Local for our fitness and performance company, BIM Fitness & Performance, about 6 weeks ago. Compared to the other people in our area, we have the highest DA. We show up 2nd in search but are not showing up on the "map pack" for local. That said, can someone please help me pinpoint why this may be? We've selected several categories that are relevant to search and we can't seem to understand why.
Reviews and Ratings | | scottgray06200 -
Not showing up in Google Local Pack despite being #1 ranked for keyword
Hey everyone, This has been an on-going problem that we've been having for a select location of ours. We've been #1 ranked for the keyword "dog groomers near me", however we don't show up in the Google Local Pack (top 3 locations box). We have a high 4.9 rating with 20+ ratings, and the other locations that DO show up have a 2.4 and 3.6 rating with less reviews! I've exhausted every resource and have even geo-tagged our specific photos on our landing pages. I'm not sure what to do anymore as we're already #1 ranked on every similar keyword. Thank you, Anthony
Reviews and Ratings | | anthonydegalbo0 -
How can I improve my rank on Google Local?
I am bringing this topic up again. Last year, I suddenly stopped ranking for Google Local search results. I tried backing away and hoping it would correct itself, but it has not. When I do a search for myself, I rarely show up in the results anymore, and this image shows AFTER I've zoomed WAY in just to find myself. I think it has something to do with many fishing charters having the same address. I read the Moz article about which signals are most important, but to be quite honest, I don't think any of these competitors really bother with SEO or even have filled out their Google My Business in its entirety. They all have way less reviews than I do as well. I really try to do everything right, but it doesn't seem to help. Is there something small ad obvious that I am missing. Any ideas on what to do?
Reviews and Ratings | | CalicoKitty20000 -
Local Listing only Showing out of the Local Market. Have you seen this? What are my options?
I have a client (law firm) who has been dominant locally for years. A few months ago he stopped showing locally when you search in his city, but when you search from other cities, he's still dominant. Here are a couple facts: 1. None of the competition is in his building. 2. He does rank dominant locally if you select "top rated" in Google maps.* *Interestingly enough, his competitors on regular searches have great ratings too so its a bit weird that he shows up in front of them but only when you select top rated. Have you seen this? Any suggestions?
Reviews and Ratings | | mgordon1 -
How can I filter reviews that use profanity while using schema markup?
Google released new guidelines last year governing how schema markup is to be deployed on a website. One of those guidelines states that reviews on your site must not be filtered or altered to receive the benefit of schema markup. After my client was slapped on the wrist by Google for ignoring their Webmaster guidelines (and our advice ahem) they removed all filtering from the websites. However, being a family friendly company it is a requirement that no profanity be displayed on the website. Google's guidelines are not entirely clear about what to do. They state: "Profanity and vulgar language are discouraged. Reviews should be appropriate for a broad and diverse audience. Consequently, reviews containing vulgar or profane language may be ineligible for use." and... "Critic reviews must allow for customers to express both positive and negative sentiments. They may not be vetted by the business or restricted by the content provider based on the positive/negative sentiment of the review before submission to Google." The issue is that we need to vet the reviews to remove profanity, yet that may be triggering for Google. Any thoughts?
Reviews and Ratings | | brettmandoes
Source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/data-types/reviews1 -
Review of my site, just starting seo and looking for any tips
Hello, Just after advice for a website I've recently relaunched, started very basic seo. However having loads of pages it’s hard to dedicate the time to get the on-site seo completed. Question for Ecommence sites, do we really need to individually content on all pages? I've also start link building & will be setting up blog, Am debating which task too complete first Or maybe combination of them all. I think due to my dyslexia I keep putting the blog off as you can properly tell English is definitely not one of my strengths. Anyway am looking for advice not just on seo , design too, what your opinions ? I have good concept for marketing just learning the ways to implement it, my website sportingdesires dot com. I believe everyone desires some kind of sport or fitness activity, a hobby you enjoy... mine is football (soccer) hence why I started selling branded football merchandise and ventured into Rugby, Basketball and American football. Will be adding other sports, really need to impermanent a blog... all in good time I suppose. Sorry for my rambling please leave any feedback good or bad I promise I won’t hunt ya down (lol) in all serious am just looking for eyes from people it always help to get mixed reviews and opinions. If you’ve read this far well done and thanks ste
Reviews and Ratings | | sportingdesires0 -
Ups store and local listings
HI,
Reviews and Ratings | | corn2015
Does google look negatively if an address is at a UPS store? A client has their address there because they don't have a physical locaiton yet. Corn1 -
How can I avoid duplicate content when building a review widget?
My website has a profile page for each of the home improvement contractors who signs up. They accumulate reviews on those pages. I want to build a review widget to display our reviews on our contractors' websites. How can I avoid duplicate content issues for the reviews? Example of a profile page with a few reviews: http://www.thehomefixers.com/members/425/waterheaters-plus-llc.php
Reviews and Ratings | | menachemp0